John Reid/Atlantic 10

Colonials Maintain Men's, Women's Leads in A-10 Swimming & Diving Championships Following Day Three

2/17/2023 9:30:07 PM

GENEVA, Ohio – Following a meet-high 13 events completed, the Atlantic 10 wrapped up a successful penultimate day of competition at the 2023 Swimming & Diving Championships at SPIRE Institute, breaking five league records while registering another 13 Top Five all-time performances across a pair of sessions Friday.

On the team leaderboard, the George Washington women managed to extend their advantage behind a slew of solid results, pushing out to 586 total points. Richmond currently sits in second via 346.5 points while Fordham (315), Duquesne (297.5) and George Mason (280) round out the top five.

For the men, GW has also established a large gap at the top of the standings, ballooning their point total out to 522 after the third day. George Mason trails in second at 347.5 points while Massachusetts (301), Fordham (289.5) and Davidson (285.5) hold on to third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

DAY THREE HIGHLIGHTS
  • The second slate of individual events opened the mid-morning prelims, including the men's & women's 400 individual medley, the men's & women's 100 butterfly, the men's & women's 200 freestyle, the men's & women's 100 breaststroke and the men & women's 100 backstroke. The women's 3-meter diving rounded out their prelims in the early afternoon.
     
  • During the morning preliminaries session, seven performances climbed into the top five rankings of their respective events, including:
    • George Washington's Julia Knox submitted a 4:11.4 mark in the women's 400 IM, setting a new league record for the event
    • In the men's edition of the 400 individual medley, GW's Bode Ringenbach surpassed the No. 5 position via a 3:49.41 time
    • Two events later during the men's 100 butterfly, the Colonials' Djurdje Matic along with Fordham's Paris Raptis picked up placement in the A-10 top five, as the former's :46.17 garnered third all-time while the latter's :46.53 notched fourth overall
    • George Mason scooped the next two top five showings, as Tate Anderson jumped to fifth all-time in the men's 200 freestyle before Jacquee Clabeaux landed at the No. 3 spot within the women's 100 breaststroke
    • Fordham's Raptis wrapped up the top five prelims performances in the men's 100 breaststroke, logging a :53.24 time – exactly one second shy of the record – for third overall on the all-time leaderboard
       
  • Duquesne's Amy Read, the defending women's 1-meter champion, continued her dominance in the women's 3-meter prelims, putting together a comfortable advantage behind a 333.45 score. GW freshman Olivia Paquette (289.80) along with Dukes teammate Sidney O'Donnell (284.70) slid into second and third, respectively.
     
  • The evening finals kicked off with a top five performance in the women's 400 individual medley by gold medalist Molly Smyers, who outpaced her GW teammate Julia Knox by just under a second via a 4:14.18 mark en route to the new No. 5 spot in the league record book. Over in the men's edition of the 400 IM, Colonials teammate Connor Rodgers managed to set a new A-10 record for the event, topping the previous best by .07 seconds via a 3:46.25 time.
     
  • After George Washington's Barbara Schaal garnered the gold in the women's 100 butterfly, Colonials teammate Djurdje Matic made another push to the top of the A-10 performance list, securing a first-place finish in the men's 100 butterfly behind a conference record :45.76 mark.
     
  • GW freshman Phoebe Wright impressed during her gold medal finish in the women's 200 freestyle, logging a new A-10 top five at No. 4 overall via a 1:47.71 effort. For the men's 200 freestyle, Patriots' freshman Tate Anderson picked up a top placement off a 1:35.93 time, good for the new third position in the league record book; additionally, silver medal winner Dylan Felt from Davidson touched the wall just .02 later for the No. 4 spot within the A-10 Top Five.
     
  • Another A-10 mark fell in the following event, the women's 100 breaststroke, as Mason's Jacquee Clabeaux — the defending record-holder – snapped her own best with the first-ever sub-minute time within league history, finishing in :59.81 for a gold medal. Fordham's Raptis held down his prelims No. 1 position in the men's 100 breaststroke, outpacing the field by just over 45 seconds en route to a first-place showing.
     
  • In the individual meet conclusion, George Mason's Ali Tyler secured the gold medal behind a new No. 5 mark in the the women's 100 backstroke, topping her own time from last year by just .01 seconds. For the men's 100 back, GW junior Karol Mlynarczyk grabbed the first-place finish.
     
  • The women's 3-meter diving finals wrapped up next in the evening cycle with Fordham graduate student Mille Haffety claiming the gold medal off a 312.70 performance while Duquense's Amy Read (298.75) and GW's Olivia Paquette (293.70) locked down silver and bronze, respectively.
     
  • In yet another thrilling finish to the day's events, the A-10 women's 400 medley relay record was crushed by both the Patriots and Colonials crews; the Mason team of Tyler, Clabeaux, Abigail Murtaugh and Emma De Jong, however, managed to outpace their GW counterparts for the top position, finishing in a 3:36.40 mark. George Washington's group of Schaal, Ava DeAngelis, Moriah Freitas and Wright clocked a 3:37.05 time, topping the previous best by nearly a second en route to a silver medal.
     
  • In the men's 400 medley relay, Fordham's crew of Christian Taylor, Noah Althoff, Raptis and Taras Zherebetskyy claimed the final gold medal of the night after posting a 3:13.19 for the event.

The A-10 Swimming & Diving Championships conclude Saturday with a final round of morning preliminaries and evening finals, and will feature the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, men's 3-meter diving and the 400 freestyle relays. For more information, visit the 2023 A-10 Swimming & Diving Championships Central.